We continue or buildup to the Cotton Bowl with a flashback to another installment in the long series between Ohio State and USC. This time, we'll revisit the 1969 Rose Bowl, one of a select few games that qualify as the finest hour in the entire Woody Hayes era.
Ohio State fans celebrate the 1968 team now as arguably Woody Hayes' best ever. It is a minor miracle that Hayes was even coaching that team, though. Woody Hayes' overall record obscures the fact his mid-1960s malaise almost cost him his job.
Hayes was 35-13-1 in the six years after winning a share of a national championship in 1961. The record is not terrible by any stretch; indeed the Buckeyes were a solid squad in 1964 and 1965 in particular and only one of those seasons (1966) was a sub-.500 year. However, that stretch coincided with some head-scratching losses (e.g. Penn State in 1964, North Carolina in 1965, Washington in 1966, Arizona in 1967) or decisive conference losses (e.g. Michigan State in 1965 and Purdue in 1967) that suggested Woody Hayes' best days were behind him.
Long-time fans of the program remember Ohio State had a reputation as a "graveyard of coaches" at the time. University administration and its fans were that impatient that Woody Hayes losing his job with three national championships and a six-year record that was 22 games above .500 was well within the realm of possibility.
The 1968 season saved his job for another 10 years. The preseason No. 11 Buckeyes won their first two games against SMU and Oregon by a combined 36 points. It secured a darkhorse contender for Woody Hayes' best-ever win the next week when it upset No. 1 and reigning Big Ten champion, 13-0.
The Buckeyes catapulted to No. 2 in the next week, running the table through the rest of the Big Ten. Smashing No. 4 Michigan, 50-14, moved the Buckeyes to No. 1.
Incidentally, Ohio State leapfrogged undefeated USC to the top prior to the Rose Bowl game. The preseason No. 2 Buckeyes had spent the past five weeks as the AP No. 1 team in the country before Ohio State leapfrogged it after routing No. 4 Michigan.
Any discussion of USC in 1968 would be incomplete without a dedicated section for O.J. Simpson. Simpson's post-football life will belie that he may well have been the best overall player college football had ever seen to that point. You'll find smart people who will argue he should've won the 1967 Heisman Trophy in the previous year, which would have made him the first person with two Heismans. Simpson had 1,543 rushing yards (i.e. 154.3 rushing yards a game) in 1967 and even had the win over that year's winner, Gary Beban. However, a bias in favor of seniors led a large enough subset of voters to dismiss Simpson as next year's winner.
Those voters were vindicated when O.J. Simpson turned in one of the best individual rushing seasons in college football history. He averaged 188 rushing yards a game and 4.9 yards per carry. His 23 touchdowns were nine more than the No. 2 back, Leroy Keyes. His Heisman win that year is still among the most lopsided ever. O.J. Simpson had 855 first-place votes. The runner-up, Purdue's Leroy Keyes, had 49 first-place votes.
In short, Ohio State knew the path toward maintaining an undefeated season meant containing the consensus best player in college football that year. O.J. Simpson was the USC offense. USC was no slouch as a whole either; this was a No. 1-vs.-No. 2 encounter.
Both teams were evenly matched to start the game, exchanging punts in a scoreless first quarter. USC got on the board first with a Ron Ayala field goal. O.J. Simpson broke Ohio State's defense on the first play of the next drive, housing an 80-yard "Student Body Left" play.
Down 10-0, the Buckeyes could've conceded that USC had a player far more explosive and better than anyone Ohio State had seen to that point. O.J. Simpson was a different breed of back than Purdue's Leroy Keyes or Michigan's Ron Johnson. Instead, Ohio State responded on its next possession. A key 3rd-and-13 conversion from Rex Kern to Ray Gillian later led to a Jim Otis dive for a touchdown to cut the USC lead to three points. Ohio State tacked on a field goal at the end of the second quarter to tie the score at intermission.
The third quarter that followed was uneventful though an Ohio State field goal near the end of the quarter gave Ohio State its first lead of the contest. That field goal was made possible by an O.J. Simpson fumble on the previous drive, bobbling the pitch for a "Student Body Left" play to the short side of the field.
The fourth quarter belonged to the Buckeyes. William Urbanik ended USC's next possession deep in its side of the field when he blew past USC's offensive tackle and another pulling lineman to level quarterback Steve Sogge. Sogge fumbled and Victor Stottlemyer recovered for the Buckeyes.
Ohio State scored five plays later when Rex Kern connected with Leo Hayden in the end zone for a touchdown to extend Ohio State's lead to 20-10.
Two possessions later, USC's hopes for a comeback were dashed when O.J. Simpson fumbled a swing pass at the beginning of the drive. Mark Stier knocked it loose and Michael Polaski recovered. Rex Kern connected with Ray Gillian on the next play for a touchdown to extend the lead to 27-10 with 10 minutes remaining.
A USC comeback was still conceivable but USC couldn't crack Ohio State's defense even with the best player in college football. USC managed to score again, but only with 45 seconds remaining and the game well in hand. A failed two-point try was the difference in a final score of 27-16.
Ohio State fans stormed the field as the final seconds expired, celebrating their hold as the No. 1 team in the country and the consensus national champion. Fans heralded Woody Hayes for guiding the effort notwithstanding that a large subset of the fan base was eager to fire him after the 1967 season.
Ohio State has defeated USC several times even as the Trojans have an overall series lead. This might be the best win over the Trojans in the series' history. The 1974 Rose Bowl was the bigger beatdown but the 1968 Trojans were the best USC team Ohio State ever beat.
It's also a bit disappointing this was the penultimate win over USC to date. The two met again in the 1973 Rose Bowl, in which the eventual national champion Trojans annihilated a green Ohio State team. The Buckeyes got their revenge the next year. However, USC has won the last eight encounters between the two.
The 2017 Buckeyes will hope to rectify that in the Cotton Bowl on Dec. 29.
